Alexandra Zavis
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/ 19 December 2004

Concern over Aids drug threatens unborn lives

The day Charmaine found out she was pregnant, a doctor told her she was HIV-positive. Devastated, she considered abortion, but opted instead to try an Aids drug called nevirapine to protect her newborn girl — now a healthy one-year-old ”miracle,” she says. Researchers now warn that taking a single dose of nevirapine during pregnancy can make mothers resistant to later treatment with the drug.

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/ 18 December 2004

‘Africa’s people used as guinea pigs’

The African National Congress published a stinging attack on Friday on top United States health officials, accusing them of treating Africans like guinea pigs and telling lies to promote the sales of a key Aids drug. The article reinforces the fears of doctors and activists that new questions about the testing of nevirapine could halt use of the drug.

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/ 21 November 2004

Côte d’Ivoire ‘can explode at any time’

Beneath the surface calm in Côte d’Ivoire, unresolved ethnic, regional, political and religious rivalries still roil after a week of unprecedented violence. The next burst of bloodletting in a country that was long a model of peace and prosperity in Africa is likely only a matter of time, diplomats and United Nations officials warn.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=125925">Mbeki positive on Côte d’Ivoire talks</a>

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/ 12 October 2004

Iraq mosque raids anger residents

Iraqi forces backed by United States soldiers and marines raided mosques on Tuesday in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi and detained a prominent cleric following fierce clashes that hospital officials said killed at least four people. Angry residents accused Americans of disrespecting the sanctity of city mosques.

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/ 28 January 2004

‘There is no future without water’

The worst drought in more than a decade is sweeping through Southern Africa, destroying crops, driving up food prices and leaving millions hungry — even as foreign assistance dries up. The World Food Programme is still short -million to feed 6,5-million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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/ 15 October 2003

Commonwealth urges national dialogue in Zimbabwe

If Zimbabwe wants to end its exclusion from the Commonwealth nations’ decision-making councils, it must start by engaging in dialogue with political opponents, the group’s secretary-general said on Wednesday. Zimbabwe was suspended from the councils after President Robert Mugabe’s government was accused of intimidation and vote rigging in the March 2002 presidential elections.